Silicon Valley wants to sell us solutions—but are we sure there’s a problem in the first place?

Silicon Valley wants to sell us solutions—but are we sure there’s a problem in the first place?

Is the world writ large just One Big Problem to be solved? I say no in my latest piece for Quartz. Here is the opening:

In Matt Damon’s 2016 commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he tells graduates that “this world has some problems we need you to drop everything and solve.” He rattles off at least 12, including economic inequality, the media, our political system, the banking industry, institutional racism, and water. In his closing remarks, he cites former US president Bill Clinton’s words—“turn toward the problems you see”—and leaves them with this question: “What’s the problem you’ll try to solve?”